The New York City Traveler

If you think that Manhattan doesn’t have any more room to grow, think again.  Five new houses were just constructed on a busy Midtown block.  Of course, these houses aren’t for occupation, they’re part of MoMA’s newest exhibition, Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.  This two-part exhibition, loosely chronologically-based, examines historical and contemporary prefabricated architecture.  
Home Delivery, Part I includes patents and other historical documents that trace development of prefabrication from the early nineteenth century to the current day. 
Home Delivery, Part II is the outdoor component located on the west side of the museum where five full-scale prefabricated houses …read more

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New York may not have the television industry that California does, but the Big Apple is quickly gaining on its West Coast competitor.  Just a few months ago, it was announced that ABC’s hit comedy Ugly Betty will move production, joining an impressive list of shows that are taped in New York.
The American Museum of the Moving Image is dedicated to the art of film and television production by collecting and preserving moving image-related artifacts.  The museum is housed on the same block as the legendary Kaufman Astoria Studios.  The studio was home of the Marx Brothers and Cosby …read more

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Located in a residential section of Staten Island, the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art is home of one of the largest collections of Himalayan artifacts in the United States. 
The museum was created an American woman, Jacques Marchais, in 1947 to share the cultural traditions of Tibet of the Himalayan region.  Built by Marchais, the museum is modeled after a Himalayan mountain monastery.  
The current exhibition, From Staten Island to Shangri-La: The Collecting Life of Jacques Marchais, celebrates the museum’s 60th anniversary by revealing the untold story of Marchais through selections from the museum’s permanent collection of books, photos, …read more

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MoMA’s free outdoor summer concert series, Summergarden, will begin this Sunday evening, July 6, 2008.
Each Sunday evening during the summer, members of the Julliard School and Jazz at Lincoln Center will bring their musical talent to the Sculpture Garden at MoMA.  The museum has a long history of presenting jazz and new concert music in its summer series which dates back to 1971.  Many concerts will feature original works and at least one world premiere will be included.       
Entrance to Summergarden is through the Sculpture Garden gate on West 54th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue.  Seating is limited …read more

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Dalí: Painting and Film, MoMA’s newest exhibition, examines how Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí’s relationship with film and cinema affected his art.  In the first exhibition of its kind, over 130 of Dalí’s paintings, drawings, and letters are on display showing how cinema was, in his early years, an inspiration that evolved into an outlet outlet for the artist. 
The exhibition is in conjunction with a selection of weekly film programs featuring Salvador Dalí: Creator Collaborator, Dalí Laughs, Salvador Dalí and Three American Surrealists, and Salvador Dalí: Consumer/Consumed.  Other works, such as the 1930 film by Luis Buñuel and …read more

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The face of the Bowery changed forever on December 1, 2007 when the New Museum of Contemporary Art reopened its doors to the public after a massive relocation to the Bowery.  Since its conception in 1977, the museum has become the most relevant institution with regards to contemporary art, hosting a rotation of temporary and ongoing exhibitions that feature internationally renown and emerging artists.
The building, designed by Japanese firm SANAA, has received major recognition this year from Conde Nast Traveler when it was named one of the “New Seven Wonders of the Architectural World.”  You can’s miss it …read more

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“Guardians of the Forest: Photographs by Rodrigo Petrella” | National Museum of the American Indian  Part of the Amazônia Brasil exhibition, these photographs introduce some of the Amazon region’s indigenous people.  Free.  Through July 13.   
“Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730-2008″ | Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum  Exploring rococo style and its continuing revivals up to the present day in multiple fields, including drawings, decorative arts, furniture, textiles, and prints.  Through July 6.   
“Sosua : A Refuge for Jews in the Dominican Republic” | Museum of Jewish Heritage  This exhibit tells the story of the the Jewish refugees who found safety on …read more

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The entrance to the New York Transit Museum may be easy to miss– it looks like the entrance to a functioning subway station.  Housed in a now-defunct 1930s Brooklyn Court Street subway station, this museum honors the birth and evolution of the the now 100-year-old New York City subway. 
Explore the history of the subway with vintage subway cars (complete with ads from the era), old subway maps, wooden turnstiles, and retro mosaics that were once in the station.  Interactive exhibits are fun for the whole family and even allow you to sit in the conductors compartment of a …read more

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Fashion has never appealed to the masses more since Project Runway came to television.  New York City is a fashion mecca from its Madison Avenue boutiques to Fashion Week twice a year.  It’s only right that New York City also have a museum dedicated to fashion: The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
The Museum at FIT is a tiny slice of the Fashion Institute of Technology, part of the State University of New York.  The museum’s mission is to “collect, conserve, document, exhibit, and interpret fashion.”  The museum’s permanent collection includes over 50,000 articles and is divided into …read more

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History is alive at every corner in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., but “Old New York” barely exists anymore.  There is one standout exception, one of the last existing buildings from New York’s golden age of commerce still stands and is open to visitors: Merchant’s House Museum.   
The Merchant’s House Museum is a restored 19th-century row house that is located in the now eclectic East Village.  The house, built in 1832, was the former residence of the Tredwells, a prosperous merchant family.
The architecture of the house is considered a transitional architectural style.  The outside is in the federal style while …read more

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